Dia Art Foundation Commissions Iñaki Bonillas for New Artist Web Project Words and Photos Launches June 12, 2014
Inaugurated in 1995, Dia's Artist Web Projects series commissions artists to create original projects for the internet. Iñaki Bonillas's Words and Photos, his first commission in the U.S., will launch online (www.diaart.org/bonillas) June 12, 2014.
Inaugurated in 1995, Dia's Artist Web Projects series commissions artists to create original projects for the internet. Iñaki Bonillas's Words and Photos, his first commission in the United States, will launch online (www.diaart.org/bonillas) on June 12, 2014.
For Words and Photos, his first web-based project, Bonillas is digitizing a collection of photographs-the vast J. R. Plaza Archive, a family heirloom that dates back to 1900-while simultaneously creating an extensive index of associated words that "mirrors" the image database. Exploring the irrepressible relation between language and pictures, Bonillas's work invites readers to engage in a quest of encyclopedic dimensions that originates with a word and opens onto the artist's family history. Starting with a set of 400 initial images, Words and Photos will progressively expand to include the entire J. R. Plaza Archive, which reaches approximately 3,800 images.
"Dia's mission has focused on accompanying artists to new terrains in their practice, enabling exciting inquiries. The Artist Web Projects series has been a catalyst for creative investigations that consider the formal dimension of the web, its immediacy, immateriality, and accessibility," said Yasmil Raymond, Dia curator. "Transitioning from analog to digital, Bonillas's project reinvents notions of displaying and archiving while questioning a vast array of photographic registrers."
"We have long admired Iñaki Bonillas's conceptual investigation of photography," said Manuel Cirauqui, Dia assistant curator, "and we feel honored to host Words and Photos, a new platform for rethinking the incredible J. R. Plaza Archive. This progressive, fluctuating index brings the audience toward a deeper experience of images and language, meaning and randomness."
Bonillas's Words and Photos was developed with assistance from Mexico-based artist and programmer Iván Abreu and the design studio Taller de Comunicación Gráfica.
Related Event
Launch Reception and Conversation between Iñaki Bonillas and Dia assistant curator
Manuel Cirauqui
Thursday, June 12, 6:30 pm
535 West 22nd Street, 5th Floor, New York City
Iñaki Bonillas was born in Mexico City in 1981, where he currently lives and works. Recent solo exhibitions include The Story of the Sinking Ship Which Is a Ship and Yet Is Not, LIGA Space for Architecture, Mexico City (2013); J. R. Plaza Archive, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona (2012); and Double Chiaroscuro, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France (2011). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including The Imminence of Poetics, São Paulo Bienal (2012); Resisting the Present, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (2012); Little Theater of Gestures, Kunstmuseum Basel and Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (2009); and Utopia Station, Venice Biennale (2003).
Iván Abreu was born in Havana in 1967 and lives and works in Mexico City. His work integrates art, design, science, and technology. He is the recipient of the 2012-14 grant from the National System of Art Creators of FONCA, and previous honors include The Prix Ars Electronica (2012) and the CINTAS Foundation Award in Visual Arts, (2011-12).
Funding
This project is made possible in part by Dia's Board of Trustees and Commissioning Committee: Kirk August Radke, Chair; Marguerite S. Hoffman; Jill and Peter Kraus; and Leslie and Mac McQuown. Generous support has also been provided by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
The artist wants to express his gratitude to Ana Bidart, Hernán Bravo Varela, Simon Greenberg, Tanya Huntington, Rafael Lemus, Lorena Marrón, Robin Myers, María Minera, Kristin Reger, and very specially Diego Montesinos.
Dia Art Foundation
Dia Art Foundation, founded in 1974, is committed to initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving extraordinary art projects. Dia:Beacon opened in May 2003 in Beacon, New York. Dia also maintains several long-term, site-specific projects including Walter De Maria's The New York Earth Room (1977) and The Broken Kilometer (1979), Max Neuhaus's Times Square (1977), Joseph Beuys's 7000 Eichen (7000 Oaks, 1988), and Dan Flavin's untitled (1996), all in Manhattan; the Dan Flavin Art Institute in Bridgehampton, New York; De Maria's The Vertical Earth Kilometer (1977) in Kassel, Germany; Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty (1970) in the Great Salt Lake, Utah; and De Maria's The Lightning Field (1977) in Quemado, New Mexico.
Dia currently presents temporary installations, performances, lectures, and readings on West 22nd Street in the Chelsea section of New York City, the neighborhood it helped pioneer. Plans for a new project space are underway.
Artist Web Projects
Inaugurated in 1995, Dia's Artist Web Projects series is the longest-running program in the United States commissioning artists to create original projects for the internet. The series invites artists that do not typically work in the digital realm to realize projects that explore the aesthetic and conceptual potentials of the medium.
For Words and Photos, his first web-based project, Bonillas is digitizing a collection of photographs-the vast J. R. Plaza Archive, a family heirloom that dates back to 1900-while simultaneously creating an extensive index of associated words that "mirrors" the image database. Exploring the irrepressible relation between language and pictures, Bonillas's work invites readers to engage in a quest of encyclopedic dimensions that originates with a word and opens onto the artist's family history. Starting with a set of 400 initial images, Words and Photos will progressively expand to include the entire J. R. Plaza Archive, which reaches approximately 3,800 images.
"Dia's mission has focused on accompanying artists to new terrains in their practice, enabling exciting inquiries. The Artist Web Projects series has been a catalyst for creative investigations that consider the formal dimension of the web, its immediacy, immateriality, and accessibility," said Yasmil Raymond, Dia curator. "Transitioning from analog to digital, Bonillas's project reinvents notions of displaying and archiving while questioning a vast array of photographic registrers."
"We have long admired Iñaki Bonillas's conceptual investigation of photography," said Manuel Cirauqui, Dia assistant curator, "and we feel honored to host Words and Photos, a new platform for rethinking the incredible J. R. Plaza Archive. This progressive, fluctuating index brings the audience toward a deeper experience of images and language, meaning and randomness."
Bonillas's Words and Photos was developed with assistance from Mexico-based artist and programmer Iván Abreu and the design studio Taller de Comunicación Gráfica.
Related Event
Launch Reception and Conversation between Iñaki Bonillas and Dia assistant curator
Manuel Cirauqui
Thursday, June 12, 6:30 pm
535 West 22nd Street, 5th Floor, New York City
Iñaki Bonillas was born in Mexico City in 1981, where he currently lives and works. Recent solo exhibitions include The Story of the Sinking Ship Which Is a Ship and Yet Is Not, LIGA Space for Architecture, Mexico City (2013); J. R. Plaza Archive, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona (2012); and Double Chiaroscuro, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France (2011). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including The Imminence of Poetics, São Paulo Bienal (2012); Resisting the Present, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (2012); Little Theater of Gestures, Kunstmuseum Basel and Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (2009); and Utopia Station, Venice Biennale (2003).
Iván Abreu was born in Havana in 1967 and lives and works in Mexico City. His work integrates art, design, science, and technology. He is the recipient of the 2012-14 grant from the National System of Art Creators of FONCA, and previous honors include The Prix Ars Electronica (2012) and the CINTAS Foundation Award in Visual Arts, (2011-12).
Funding
This project is made possible in part by Dia's Board of Trustees and Commissioning Committee: Kirk August Radke, Chair; Marguerite S. Hoffman; Jill and Peter Kraus; and Leslie and Mac McQuown. Generous support has also been provided by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
The artist wants to express his gratitude to Ana Bidart, Hernán Bravo Varela, Simon Greenberg, Tanya Huntington, Rafael Lemus, Lorena Marrón, Robin Myers, María Minera, Kristin Reger, and very specially Diego Montesinos.
Dia Art Foundation
Dia Art Foundation, founded in 1974, is committed to initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving extraordinary art projects. Dia:Beacon opened in May 2003 in Beacon, New York. Dia also maintains several long-term, site-specific projects including Walter De Maria's The New York Earth Room (1977) and The Broken Kilometer (1979), Max Neuhaus's Times Square (1977), Joseph Beuys's 7000 Eichen (7000 Oaks, 1988), and Dan Flavin's untitled (1996), all in Manhattan; the Dan Flavin Art Institute in Bridgehampton, New York; De Maria's The Vertical Earth Kilometer (1977) in Kassel, Germany; Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty (1970) in the Great Salt Lake, Utah; and De Maria's The Lightning Field (1977) in Quemado, New Mexico.
Dia currently presents temporary installations, performances, lectures, and readings on West 22nd Street in the Chelsea section of New York City, the neighborhood it helped pioneer. Plans for a new project space are underway.
Artist Web Projects
Inaugurated in 1995, Dia's Artist Web Projects series is the longest-running program in the United States commissioning artists to create original projects for the internet. The series invites artists that do not typically work in the digital realm to realize projects that explore the aesthetic and conceptual potentials of the medium.